Welcome to the Department of Business Law

About Business Law...

Welcome to the homepage of the Department of Business Law. For BSBA Business Law students, our mission is to equip students with the academic knowledge, problem solving, analytical and professional skills in the areas of business law, business ethics, and real estate necessary to achieve their personal and professional goals. All of our faculty are accomplished attorneys who are committed to teaching. We are dedicated to the success of our students, and our program is designed to prepare students for careers in business, public service and professional practice.

It’s a problem we’ve all faced: too many cups and too few cupholders. The solution came from Real Estate student Stephanie Villa along with her team, business students Bretiel Danipour, Jenna Flynn and Tammy Nguyen who developed an adjustable tray that molds to the shape of your car seat. Their invention won first place and the audience choice prize at CSUN’s Bull Ring New Venture Competition hosted by the David Nazarian College of Business & Economics’ Entrepreneurship Program.

Read more at http://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/business/nospill-tray-for-delivery-drivers-captures-bull-ring-grand-prize/ Read more

In a case of unlawful collusion among some of the world's largest private equity firms, Professor & Chair Melanie Stallings Williams co-authored a paper where economists, using auction theory, showed that antitrust violations cost shareholders $12 billion. http://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/media-releases/economists-use-auction-theory-to-show-private-equity-firms-rigged-the-bidding-in-leveraged-buyouts-at-expense-of-shareholders/ Read more

Professor Melanie Stallings Williams co-authored an article, “Masters of the Universe: Bid Rigging By Private Equity Firms in Multibillion Dollar LBOs,” for the University of Cincinnati Law Review that throws the spotlight on a rare class-action lawsuit in which the plaintiffs – shareholders in companies purchased – demonstrated that some of the world’s largest private equity firms unlawfully colluded to ensure that they held down prices on the companies they were bidding to buy.

“I don’t think people realize that when this happens, it’s our money, yours and mine, that’s involved,” Williams said. “Yes, some of the shareholders are monied people, but some of the shareholders are retirement funds and the type of mutual funds that your grandmother owns. These aren’t just rich people they are taking advantage of. It’s you, me and the people we care about.” Read more

With its genesis as a classroom exercise, More Than an Academic Question: Defining Student Ownership of Intellectual Property Rights has been published in the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal. Read more

Why Business Law?

The Department of Business Law Department offers a course of study leading to a B.S. Degree in Business Administration with an option in Business Law. This program prepares students to analyze complex problems, think critically and communicate effectively while learning the legal principles pertinent to making business decisions

Careers

The Business Law option is valuable preparation for careers in a variety of fields, including governmentally regulated industries, for example banking, insurance, securities and real estate. It is also useful for careers in risk management, contract administration, public affairs, finance, management, legal and judicial support services and employment relations. It is well suited for students who plan careers in industries that are highly regulated, for example banking, insurance, securities, health care and real estate. It is useful for entrepreneurs. It is focused on the legal applications of business decisions, and so is useful in a variety of careers

Why Real Estate?

The option in Real Estate covers both theoretical and practical aspects of real estate and provides an academic foundation for careers in real estate. Students completing the option in Real Estate will have satisfied most of the educational requirements for the California real estate broker’s license and the real estate appraiser’s license.

Careers

While the Real Estate option is designated for students with career interests in the various functional fields of real estate-brokerage, appraisal, finance, investment, development and asset management, as well as service areas such as escrow and title insurance-the skills with which students in the option will become familiar are applicable in virtually all business fields.